


You Can Run Wherever You Want To

by Evitcani



Series: Living and Dying Beneath the Veil [22]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Bittersweet, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 09:58:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12679554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evitcani/pseuds/Evitcani
Summary: The next great adventure is not death, but whatever or whoever awaits us beyond.Taako didn’t pause to knock when he finally dashed through the door into Kravitz’s arms.





	1. The Beginning and

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: This story revolves around Kravitz dying.
> 
> It is finally time to put an end to my first fanfic series.

The Raven Queen took his hand in the end. Kravitz saw her, finally, as she really was. Taller than him, broader shoulders, smile lines worn more at the corner of her mouth, but otherwise she’d given so much to Kravitz that he thought for a moment she’d taken his form again. He turned, glancing back at his body bowed over the altar like he’d taken a nap.

Brother Gregory would find him like that. At least, he hoped it wasn’t Taako or any of his children.

“There is always a price,” she murmured, voice a rumble of thunder before a storm. 

A part of Kravitz wanted to shout it wasn’t fair. He swallowed, clasping his hands in front of himself. “You expect me to just—. Die?” It wasn’t meant to be an accusation but it came out like one. “After everything—. I thought this would work.” 

She nodded and tugged on his hand. He could see it now, a light and a warmth. Mac, a little girl again, holding open the door. Angus opened the door in the world of the living. He cried out, but it was muted, strange. Beyond the door, behind Mac was his mother. All the grandchildren he never got to meet. Angus’s grandfather and parents he knew from the single photo Angus had held onto. 

All of them unable to move on while he kept them waiting. 

He turned one last time to Angus leaning one hand on the desk, face already crumpling to grief. “Will they be alright?” It was a stupid question, but he couldn’t _not_ ask it. 

“You always—,” The Raven Queen paused to clear her throat. “You always said death was only the next adventure. Shouldn’t it be for them, too?” 

Already he was a past tense. 

He turned to Mac and took her hand. She’d waited, watched over him for so long. She deserved her peace. 

They all did.


	2. The End.

The great beyond was just over the hill. Kravitz watched them go from the porch of his house. It looked and felt like the one he’d shared with Taako. The tea he’d left downstairs was as warm as the moment he’d stepped out the backdoor. It never cooled or emptied. 

Always the memory of the last cup of tea Taako had ever made for him. 

He could almost hear Taako around every corner. His laughter but breath on the wind, his hair disappearing in every doorway, his perfume haunting their pillows. It felt like only a few hours before Lucretia found him, the young woman he’d never known her as. 

She told him he’d died four years ago. 

Taako barely left their house. 

She left him with that, waving at him as he stood in the doorway. He sipped his tea and watched her until she crossed over the hill. Killian and Carey came together, dancing up the steps of his porch and pounding on the door. Killian crushed him in a hug and he awkwardly patted her back. They sat in the sunroom across from Kravitz, holding hands, and told him about every birthday party since he’d been gone.

He’d died eleven years ago.

Taako had finally stopped needing to correct his use of present-tense to past. 

They left together, too, dashing into the great beyond. Brother Gregory barely got out of their way in time, laughing. He had come with a great deal many more terrible jokes to tell Kravitz. In the middle of talking, his spouse joined them. Kravitz hid in the kitchen to give them some privacy. 

He’d died twenty-three years ago.

Taako still missed him.

Both of them walked slowly over the hill, arms tight around one another. Mara walked up the steps, shaking her head. She was older than she’d been the last time he’d seen her. Wiser, too, wise enough to give him a the recipe for Taako’s peanut butter cookies.

He’d died fifty-eight years ago. 

Taako had laughed while he told the story of their third date. 

She left alone with a determined look in her eyes. Kalista stormed up his steps and demanded that duel he’d promised her. She won. The conversation and sparing came easy. 

He’d died seventy-seven years ago.

Taako had hung his and Kravitz’s wedding portrait in their living room. 

They drank tea and waited together. Merle came not long after, Davenport on his heels. They stayed for the memory of the tea Taako had made and told him he was a great grandfather. They were grandfathers, too. 

He’d died one hundred seventy-three years ago. 

Taako had cried while holding their newborn great grandchild, Macallister. 

The two of them left in comfortable silence, waving goodbye at the top of the hill. Angus came for Kalista. He had held her tight, hands shaking as he’d cried. Kravitz gave him a brief hug and left them in peace. 

He’d died three hundred twenty-one years ago.

Taako would affectionately joke about Kravitz’s sense of style to house guests. 

Angus and Kalista left, racing each other over the hill. Kravitz didn’t see who won, but he cheered all the while. Lup and Barry came with a lot of shrugging and laughter and surprise. They were just as surprised to be dead as Kravitz was to see either, much less both. 

He’d died six hundred forty years ago. 

Taako had eagerly bored and delighted a gaggle of their great great grandchildren with an old photo album of him and Kravitz.

Lup helped him make the cookies just right while they waited. Barry made them all hot cocoa and it felt strange to have something that wasn’t just a memory. 

He’d died eight hundred fourteen years ago.

Taako didn’t pause to knock when he finally dashed through the door into Kravitz’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working on this series has been both a joy and frustration. I had so much personal grief this let me sort through. It was my first serious piece of writing as silly as that seems and I will forever be grateful for it. It's not fair to keep it in this limbo state of unfinished. So, I am giving it the ending I always planned to.
> 
> In Another Life was always meant to be the next great adventure.
> 
> I'll see you in the next one.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow my [Tumblr](https://evitcani-writes.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Evit_cani).


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